July is National Ice Cream Month, so BetMassachusetts.com took a break from Massachusetts sports betting to look into the favorite ice cream flavors of the Bay State.
We utilized Google Trends to determine the most searched ice cream flavors by each state of YouGov’s data on the Top 11 most popular ice cream flavors in 2018. After completing the trends over the past 12 months (from July 6, 2022, to July 6, 2023), we were able to find results to get the top five ice cream flavors in Massachusetts.
Here is the top five list you won’t find on any Massachusetts betting apps.
We learned in the spring that Massachusetts ranks sixth nationally when it comes to states that love their ice cream.
Fitting for the state that brought the Puritans to America, the top choice in the Bay State is vanilla. There are a few different vanillas in the world, including Bourbon-Madagascar vanilla, Mexican vanilla, Tahitian vanilla, and West Indian vanilla, all named for their place of origin. French vanilla, however, does not come from Paris. It gets its name from the French preparation for ice cream, using eggs in a custard base. Nearly 17 million tons of vanilla are produced annually, with the bulk of the spice – yup, you’re eating a spicy ice cream – coming from Madagascar and Indonesia.
The second favorite flavor in the state is Cookies and Crème, a combination of vanilla ice cream and either Oreos or Oreo imposters.
At No. 3 we have chocolate, a flavor that comes from the bean of the cacao seed, in all kinds of varieties. Chocolate has been used as a flavor for around 4,000 years and is believed to have first been tasted in lands that are now part of Mexico. Since Columbus actually “discovered” America south of America he brought cocoa beans back to Spain, where they flavored popular drinks of the European aristocracy. Pope Alexander VII was so fond of chocolate drinks, he decreed that drinking cocoa did not count as breaking fast, but never went so far as to add a chocolate fountain at Mass. Roughly 65% of the world’s cocoa now comes from the Ivory Coast and West Africa.
Coming in tied at No. 4 is strawberry, from the fruit grown almost all over the world. California grows the most strawberries in the U.S., more than a million tons annually, about eight times the number of Florida. (China produces nearly 3X more strawberries than the U.S.) Strawberries come in many different varieties and, technically, they’re not really berries, but as an ice cream flavor or dipped in chocolate, they work better than actual berries.
Also tied for fourth is Rocky Road, based on a candy but turned into an ice cream with a chocolate base, marshmallow and nuts. The flavor was conceived in California around the Great Depression. Fenton’s Creamery in Oakland claims the original, but other sources give credit to William Dreyer, who was in the ice cream business with his partner Joseph Edy. Fenton’s Dreyer’s and Edy’s are all still making ice cream, so the road hasn’t been that rocky.
The best ice cream in Massachusetts outside of Boston, according to New England’s Yankee magazine (a name that must drive Red Sox fans crazy), is Hudson’s New City Microcreamery with SoCo Creamery getting honorable mention. In the Boston area, the top choice was Gracie’s in Somerville, with Forge Baking Company getting an honorable mention.
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Author
Howard Gensler is a veteran journalist covering the Massachusetts sports betting market for BetMassachusetts.com. Before his focus on U.S. sports betting, Howard worked at the Philadelphia Daily News, TV Guide and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Howard is also a founding editor of bettorsinsider.com.
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